Archive for February, 2015

We’re pleased to announce that our haunted hotel munzees have now hired an equally eerie staff to help run the various institutions that have spread across the map. These new badges are for achievements with hotels (not motels) including renting rooms and deploying hotels.

This month’s Clan Requirements are live and we want you out in the wild! The focus for March is greenies and rovers. The top 3 players in each clan will be also be rewarded after the round has finished.

Remember to join us Fridays at 3 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words! To learn more follow us on Google + and if you missed last week’s videocast click HERE.

We’ve also created a NEW WEBPAGE strictly for the Videocast. Here you can watch the past and present podcasts anytime and it also allows downloads to iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe to the Munzee Podcast on iTunesgo to File > Subscribe to Podcast > enter http://www.munzeepodcast.com/feed/podcast/.If you want to interact live with the Videocasts and ask questions, you will still need to join us on our Google+ page,

This month Munzee has been supporting American Heart Month, from raising money via Candy Heart Virtuals to hosting a heart awareness week with Eventzee. Heart disease is the number one killer of both women and men in the US, so it has been important for us at Team MHQ to help promote healthy living. This week’s Player of the Week is Mary Ellen Labrecque who is currently battling heart disease. That hasn’t stopped her from Munzeeing though, as she uses it to keep active during her down time. Mary Ellen’s story inspired hope within us and we hope it does the same for our players.

Mary Ellen is currently in the hospital so her friend and fellow Munzee player Tracy Bergmann (MARTES) has helped transcribe Mary Ellen’s responses.

This is my dear friend and fellow Munzeer, Mary Ellen Labrecque. She just came home from the hospital, this week, after having a heart transplant in September 2014. She hasn’t been home in over 5 months! Mary Ellen has a blood clotting disorder which clotted off her heart (heart attack) in March 2013. She was in a coma for weeks, until they implanted 2 heart pumps internally in her chest, called a Bi-VAD. This pump came out of her abdomen with 4 hoses which attached to a 40 pound pump on a wheeled cart. This kept her heart pumping and kept her alive for 18 months while she awaited a heart transplant. During that waiting time, she was advised to decrease her weight/BMI index, so I introduced her to Munzee, as a way to make our walks fun. I started deploying in areas where we could walk with her “heart on a cart”. This is how she got hooked on Munzee. As complication would arise and I would drive her the 3 hours to the hospital, she would be sitting in the passenger seat checking her phone and capping any virtuals on our route. Our mid way stretch break at the rest areas, truck stops and Dunkin Donuts had to have Munzees or I would deploy one for her. I even noticed she capped 2 virtuals we placed for her on her way home 3 days ago. She hadn’t been home in 5 months, but detoured for her “heart donor” Munzees! She is just amazing and has survived amazing odds, obstacles and complications to survive this transplant and live for her 4 adopted special needs children. She gets the biggest smile when she hears that “ding”. MHQ, I thank you for contributing donations to The American Heart Association. Also, please consider being an organ donor so that people like my very dear friend, Mary Ellen, can survive and wait times for organ transplants can decrease.

My wish is that someday there will be an artificial heart pump which is able to replace a damaged heart. This artificial pump would be mechanical and therefore not carry all the risks of rejection. You see, once a person has a heart transplant, life doesn’t just return to normal. There is the constant daily battle with rejection of the heart because it is “foreign” and the body tries to attack it. This requires large doses of steroids to be used to fight this rejection. These steroids cause our immune systems to be suppressed, thereby making infection a huge threat. A heart transplant is an absolute second chance gift of life, but does have complications and side effects for life. I hope with more research, there will be major advancements made in transplants, heart pumps and aftercare.

Who are you?

Mary Ellen Labrecque

Where in the world do you live?

I live in Lewiston, Maine. My heart hospital is in Brigham & Womens in Boston, Mass.

What do you like about Munzee and how did this help you during your whole experience with heart disease?

I really like that Munzee got me out of the house and kept me from having to sit in front of the TV all the time. It allowed me to exercise and lose weight. I am not in it for the points or badges, I just like to look for them to hear that “ding”. I just love that! I tell everyone I ride with about Munzee because I can only cap virtuals right now. I can tell you that I am constantly looking at the map while I am riding, looking for virtuals. Oh, and you can’t cap them in the Life Flight helicopter. I have even tried from the ambulance! My goal is to be strong enough to be independent by this spring, so I can drive myself to find and cap all the Munzees around here. There are so many now and it will be good exercise for me.

How do you feel about Munzee donating a portion of money from the sale of virtual hearts to the AHA?

That is so wonderful and just so amazing. What a wonderful donation that would be. Thank you Munzee. I feel so blessed as an individual that people would think so much of others. They have no idea how much encouragement and empowerment that provides for men, women, children and healthcare professionals’ education. There is so much education that goes into the level of care I received. A whole team has to be trained on the heart pumps and then a whole nursing unit of staff and then the care givers who have to be your back-up for the pump when you go home. For me, I had to travel three hours away to a hospital which was trained on my pumps. Even the ambulances aren’t trained. My trained staff at home had to provide emergency care during times of complications and teach the local staff. When I was in the local hospitals, my own 3 trained family and friend RN’s had to staff me until I could be transported to the hospital 3 hours away. So much more education is needed.

If you know a player that should be nominated for Munzee Player of the Week, shoot us a message at iLoveYou@Munzee.com and let us know just why this person is outstanding in the global Munzee community!

-Please note, this is a super active campaign. We may not be able to get back to everyone, but you’re helping to grow the list of amazing people in the Munzee community!

Remember to join us Fridays at 3 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words! To learn more follow us on Google + and if you missed last week’s videocast click HERE.

We’ve also created a NEW WEBPAGE strictly for the Videocast. Here you can watch the past and present podcasts anytime and it also allows downloads to iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe to the Munzee Podcast on iTunesgo to File > Subscribe to Podcast > enter http://www.munzeepodcast.com/feed/podcast/.If you want to interact live with the Videocasts and ask questions, you will still need to join us on our Google+ page,

Munzee promotes staying active through adventure. We’re proud of Munzee’s ability to get people to investigate unknown areas, learn about the game and grow the map. This week’s Players of The Week challenged themselves to bike across Canada and interact with strangers along the way and what better way to do that than to Munzee? We proudly sponsored Celaey Fox and Shannon Hutchison in their Whomp Nation Canadian Coast To Coast journey. Read on to learn more about WhompNationCanada!

Who are you?

Shannon Hutchison and Caley Fox. We met at Rocky Mountain school of Photography in the summer of 2012.

Caley has played Munzee since 2011, and when we decided to start Whomp Nation we created a joint Munzee account in March 2013.

How did you find Munzee?

Caley found out about Munzee when he was shooting photos for his sister and happened to see a QR code in a tree. He’s become very enthusiastic about it ever since.

What do you enjoy most about Munzee?

We enjoy Munzee because it gives us an excuse to get out and explore strange places. It was also great meeting all of the Munzee people we met as we travelled across the country!

Tell us about Whomp Nation:

Whomp Nation is a project Shannon and Caley made to discover more about Canada. We shot off in April 2013 to pedal across Canada on two tandem bikes joined together and ended in mid-September. We documented the people we met, the land, and participated in fun Canadian events. It was an interactive experience that people could follow via social media each week.

What spurred you guys to start this?

Shannon originally wanted to walk across Canada, but we decided on our crazy Tandems so we could pick up Hitchhikers! We figured why not and it inspired us to go on this crazy trip.

How did you incorporate Munzee into this trek?

Munzee was a great way of tracking where we had been during our trip. It also lead to amazing Munzee hunting in Quebec!

Tell us about yourselves:

Shannon and Caley are both professional photographers. Shannon also work as teacher.

What’s Next?

We’re really hoping to do another trip like this last one, just not sure to where yet! (Editor’s Note: May we suggest a trip down south? Perhaps McKinney, TX?)

WhompCanada included their Social so cap away!

Whomp Nation also produced a time lapse video of their trip, so give it a watch. You can also look back on their whole experience at www.whompnation.com.

If you know a player that should be nominated for Munzee Player of the Week, shoot us a message at iLoveYou@Munzee.com and let us know just why this person is outstanding in the global Munzee community!

-Please note, this is a super active campaign. We may not be able to get back to everyone, but you’re helping to grow the list of amazing people in the Munzee community!

Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States, so as we celebrate American Heart Month it’s important to listen to the stories of those around us. The following story is from Kevin Becker, owner of Shutt’er Down Ranch- a partner of the Munzee Marketplace. Although Kevin may work in the fields all day raising chickens, building greenhouses and maintaining the ranch, it wasn’t always this way.

“I spent my entire adult life in the middle of corporate America. Each week was two or three new cities with no sleep, no exercise and a room service diet,” Kevin said. “All this changed on one of those trips in 2010 when my 49-year-old heart decided that enough was enough.”

Two days later Kevin’s three children watched as their father headed into open heart surgery. The surgeon explain that there was a 25 percent chance that Kevin wouldn’t survive.

“I decided right then and there that I was going to take control of my health,” Kevin said.

He kept that promise and a year later Kevin, Seth Thomas, and Cory Sparks started Shutt’er Down Ranch in Farmersville, TX. It’s been five years since that wake up call and Kevin is 50 pounds lighter and his heart is as healthy as ever. Kevin attributes his success to changing the way he eats. He altered his diet to all natural or organic foods whenever possible, and now runs a business producing the very same food he eats.

“I had no idea that it would be so difficult to find all natural foods, not to mention the outrageous costs,” Kevin said. “I’m so excited to be a part of Shutt’er Down Ranch and helping change the way people eat organically.”

The Munzee Marketplace is proud to partner with Shutt’er Down Ranch and bring healthy, cost-effective food to the people of North Texas. The Marketplace already has a hard time keeping SD Ranch’s cage-free, organic chicken eggs in stock and there are plans in place to expand this partnership even further. One of the first steps in living healthy is looking at the food you eat, so take Kevin’s story to heart and take care of yours.

Candy Heart Virtuals are no longer on sale, but they’ll be on the map through mid-march

Clan Wars Update

Remember to join us Fridays at 3 pm (MHQ Time) for the live videocast where you can interact with us, ask questions and see us stumble over our words! To learn more follow us on Google + and if you missed last week’s videocast click HERE.

We’ve also created a NEW WEBPAGE strictly for the Videocast. Here you can watch the past and present podcasts anytime and it also allows downloads to iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe to the Munzee Podcast on iTunesgo to File > Subscribe to Podcast > enter http://www.munzeepodcast.com/feed/podcast/.If you want to interact live with the Videocasts and ask questions, you will still need to join us on our Google+ page,

Eventzee has invaded Munzee! Eventzee’s president Bob has seemingly declared war on Munzee and now Eventzee special icons are popping up all over on the Munzee app. So it’s up to the Munzee players to get out there and cap all of those Eventzee pins before it’s too late! We want peace with Eventzee though, so when you cap one of these special physical pins you’ll be taken to the Eventzee website where you can download the app. Both Munzee and Eventzee can live cohesively, but to do that you’ll need to download the app and join the free weekly photo hunt. It’s actually a lot of fun to play Eventzee too though, so give it a shot and appease Bob Vardeman.

2,015 Eventzee icons have attached to physical greenies across the map and will bounce every 6 hours unless captured before then. By finding at least one Eventzee special you’ll also be awarded with a special Eventzee badge. Eventzee caps work like mystery munzees in that you’ll receive either 5, 10, 15 or 20 points for capture and cap on. You may not capture your own munzee. You can see if there are any pins near your at http://www.munzee.com/eventzee.

Be sure to join Eventzee’s free weekly photo hunts once you download the app. Check the Eventzee blog to see new clues added daily and compete for your chance to win prizes each week. This week’s winner will be awarded $100 USD and some virtual munzee products!

The App is available for download now through the Apple store or Google play. Once you’ve finished downloading the app, join us for our free weekly Eventzee events. Each week we have worldwide photo hunts that anyone can play. Compete with people around the world and get a taste of what it’s like to play Eventzee- maybe even take notes for your own hunt. Check out the Eventzee blog daily for new clues and watch the in-app leaderboard to see your rank!

This simple idea has become so much more, but at its core Eventzee is here to ease the tedious task of setting up privatized and personalized scavenger hunts.

As Munzee’s community expanded, a need arose for hosting private Munzee events in an easy fun, way. We recognized an opportunity to develop a new app that would make privatized scavenger hunts easier and more customizable for smartphones. What resulted was Eventzee, the easiest way to host private scavenger hunts for any event possible. Whether you’re planning a family reunion, organizing a trade show, or interested in alternative ways to develop corporate training, Eventzee can take you event to the next level.

Eventzee can help you create an exciting and unique experience for everyone involved. Whether it’s 200 people or 2, our feature-filled and user-friendly admin tools will get your game going in no time. We’ve made it easy for you to create and control an engaging competition through our website and mobile app. Choose between a traditional photo-based scavenger hunt or a QR code-based hunt, where players use Eventzee to locate QR code stickers hidden in the wild. Customize your game in countless different ways to make the most of your hunt. If you’re interested in hosting your own Eventzee Scavenger Hunt visit www.eventzeeapp.com for more info!